Denver and Carolina will meet in Super Bowl 50, but it was really a five-year path for both teams to get to this point. The top two defenses in DVOA this year, each built their strongest unit with high draft picks and a few free-agent deals. In fact, Denver had 45.9 percent of its offensive and defensive snaps from free agents this season, the highest percentage for any Super Bowl team since 2006. The Panthers surprisingly come in second at 37.8 percent, but their moves were not as flashy as John Elway's big-name signings. We recap some of the team's best decisions to build these Super Bowl rosters.

Over at ESPN Insider, a look at Tom Brady and Peyton Manning's playoff records. So often wins and losses come down to one play, and the difference between Brady's 22-8 and Manning's 12-13 is heavily determined by six specific plays where neither quarterback was even on the field: four field goals and two plays by defenders named Moore. We'll be expanding this article with a look at similar plays for other current top quarterbacks in a second article on Football Outsiders next week.

Get a bit of a preview of tomorrow's Football Outsiders playoff previews, as Andrew Healy looks at some of the matchups that could favor Kansas City against New England despite the loss of Jeremy Maclin.

The final fantasy column of the season at ESPN Insider looks at the injury-plagued divisional round. We are fading Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown. Some of our favorite DraftKings matchups include Carson Palmer (stacked with Larry Fitzgerald), Emmanuel Sanders, Spencer Ware and Travis Kelce.

In an ESPN Insider column today, I looked at DVOA over the last four seasons, including the playoffs. FO readers know, of course, that Seattle is No. 1, but can you guess which other franchises have been among the top ten over the four-year span? You'll find out that Carolina has been better than you probably remember, and that Detroit has been surprisingly consistent in its mediocrity.

Get a bit of a preview of one of our four Friday wild-card previews with this Thursday article at ESPN Insider. How can the Bengals beat the Steelers without Andy Dalton at quarterback? Good thing the strength of their passing game matches a big Pittsburgh weakness.

I went through and looked at some lesser-known players who could make a big impact in the postseason. Well, lesser-known to most fans. I'm sure FO readers have heard of most of these guys: Tyler Lockett, David Johnson, James White, Kawann Short, Whitney Mercilus, Ryan Shazier, Ron Parker, and (as the next Justin Bethel/Matthew Slater on punt coverage) Jeff Janis.